Black Market Guns, Anti-Gun Laws Create Them & Drive Up Demand

USA –-(Ammoland.com)- If someone lies to you to get you to change your vote or your lifestyle, they are not lying for your benefit, but for their own. Lying can be done in many ways, and one of the most insidious is the lie by omission.

These reasonable sounding lies and our ignorance prevents us gun owners from fighting the evils of gun control as one strong united block. We counsel the creation of firearms study groups [like a bible study group, but for gunnies], in your kitchens, your churches, your firing ranges and in your backyard at your next picnic.

The more you know, the stronger we all are.

Firearms Black Market

Before we can even get into the debate on various laws being touted about, we need to break down the some of the ever-present spoilers, like the firearms black market. We need to be able to know and fully understand what the firearms black market is and how it works. That’s so we can bring it out of the closet with conviction.

So let us divert from our intended column on common sense NICS checks and begin to fight back with a big unanswerable question for gun control advocates and many unthinking gun owners, “So, what about the black market for guns?”

No gun control advocate ever says, “This [whatever it is] law will save lives and we need to do something or we're not good moral people, but, oh, the black market will prevent it from working as promised.” They would never acknowledge that.

How big is the market? The easy answer is as big as necessary. It's an unfettered free market. The supply will suit the demand.

A closer look suggests that in 1993, New York City was a city of about 7.3 million people. In 1993, according to the Department of Justice OJJDP estimate, there were up to two million illegal guns possessed by city dwellers. Remember NYC gave gun licenses to the rich and connected, and because of the bulldog work of journalist Jo Craven McGinty, we have a figure of 37,000 legally possessed weapons.

The more we try to limit people's access to guns or anything else, the more money goes into the pockets of criminals…

By adding 37,000 to 2 million, we come to an estimated total of 2,037,000 guns. Then, by dividing, we find that, if each licensee purchased two guns, only 3.7 % of New York City firearms were “legally owned.” Since only the very well connected are permitted to own more than two weapons, we can conservatively estimate that in 1993, only 5 % of the guns were considered legal in NYC.

That means that the percentage of so-called black market guns, after a century of restrictive laws is a whopping 95%. So much for New York City’s 100+-year-old restrictive gun laws, known as the Sullivan Act of 1911.

We cannot find any recent national number for black market estimates because the powers-that-be keep this information close to the vest and the truth is they can only guesstimate.

If we knew the actual number of so-called black market guns, we would also understand that the all-pervasive black market in weapons prevents poorly thought out anti-gun laws from working as promised. Today in New York City, anyone who wants an “illegal” firearm can quickly get one, through the black gun market.

The actual effect of restrictive gun laws is, by practical definition, to transfer legal guns to the illegal market. Everyone who buys a gun on the black market is committing an unlawful act, according to gun banners.

Many bodega owners who could not afford the time and money to apply to the city, knowing that eventually they would be denied their license, use the black market and therefore, commit a felony in order to stay alive and in business.

In Hong Kong with strict firearms laws, Angel Shamaya reports, the penalties are so onerous that only police and criminals own weapons. That is, the illegal guns possessed by criminals are “black market guns.”

Let's use the term, “black market guns” because it gets very close to the actual truth of lawmaking. Every other name builds the deception that law can control criminals and it is people who need protection from it.

“Proliferation of guns” or “easy availability” of guns is nonsense words! It's black market guns, and they are here to stay. Here is the Gallant/Eisen expose of the fatal flaw in firearms legislation, “restrict legal channels, and all that will change is the pattern of their availability.”

Dave Kopel et al., describe the global black market in weapons. In Jamaica, the Gun Court Act of 1974 led to a situation in which homemade and black market guns “largely replaced lawfully acquired guns.” In Jamaica today, crime rules.

One cop firmly stated, in The Layman's Guide to Black Market Firearms, “Ladies and Gentlemen of America, People are always going to have guns available to them, no matter what. Always. Without fail….And the more we try to limit people's access to guns or anything else, the more money goes into the pockets of criminals…”

We have only presented the tip of the iceberg of black market guns studies ideas. We hope we have broken the path for the curious as it is essential to understand all side of the arguments so we can conclusively prove our point and argue our cause. Firearms safety requires more than finding the intended target without incident. It means protecting the Second Amendment for our children, and beyond.

Knowing about the elephant in the room goes a long way to being able to confront the howling masses. Spread the knowledge.

About the Authors:

Alan J Chwick has been involved with firearms much of his life and is the Retired Managing Coach of the Freeport NY Junior (Marksmanship) Club, Div. of Freeport NY Revolver & Rifle Association, Freeport, NY. He has escaped from New York State to South Carolina and is an SC FFL (Everything 22 and More). – [email protected] | TWITTER: @iNCNF @E22andMore

Joanne D Eisen, DDS (Ret.) practiced dentistry on Long Island, NY. She has collaborated and written on firearm politics for the past 30+ years. She has also escaped from New York State but to Virginia. – [email protected]

In states where gun laws are not so harsh the problem of black market guns is not as big of a problem as it is in the commie states. I live in a gun friendly state and I do not know anyplace I could go to buy a black market gun. There are, most likely, some for the average criminal but they are not very prominent.

I have been listening to the governor and Lt. governor of Texas speaking about the tragedy that occured in Santa Fe this morning. I heard nothing from them or anyone else that spoke considering more gun laws. Their focus was how to stop the criminals from getting into the school and what needs to be done to the buildings to make them safer. I heard nothing about outlawing sawed off shotguns or .38 pistols. May God bless and comfort the families of those who perished and hats off to the leaders of Texas for their proactive approach to preventing any more of these tragedies.

There is another insidious facet in this discussion. Suppose 3 holders of “black market guns”: 1) an armed robber; 2) a bodega-owner who is a registered Democrat; 3) a prominent hotel owner who is a registered Republican. So, who among these 3 gets caught? All three are vulnerable. When the armed robber is caught he is shown leniency because the prisons are full of convicts of his ethnicity. When the bodega-owner is caught he is shown less lenience. The prominent Republican hotel owner is really hammered.

And, this we call the equal protection of the law. All for a proposition which is ill-considered from the outset.

OMG, please stop using the term illegal guns already! A gun cannot in an of itself cannot commit an illegal act. It is the possession of a person unlicensed or not allowed that commits the illegal act. All guns made are somewhere made legally.

Just as alcohol Prohibition did. Just as the War on Drugs does. Just as high taxes on “sin” — e.g., cigarettes– do. A few years ago now, the CDC reported that none of the forms of gun control that had been tried worked. Every new proposal I’ve read is just a reworking of those same failed schemes. It is axiomatic that laws only work on those who are willing to obey them. By definition, criminals don’t obey laws; they wouldn’t be “criminals” if they did.

Any gun control fuels this problem but NICS background checks created it.
This issue is exactly the issue I have with the GOP, much like the war on drugs the consequences of your stupid policies are worse than any problem they were meant to fix. If you believe the government can or should fix social problems than you’re as dumb as a liberal.
Its like spouting about supporting the 2nd amendment and saying you are for reasonable restrictions, well guess what dummy the only felon prevented from getting a gun is a law abiding one.

Correct. The only people affected by NICS or any other gun laws are the law abiding. When we speak of reasoned discussions on the topic I say fine, we should begin with; how many and what gun laws are we repealing this year? We have more than 22,000 of them and to quote Churchill, “so little accomplished, so much to do”.

We accumulated these laws since 1934. That’s a pretty astounding feat when you think about it. We managed to put into law that number of laws that accomplished one thing; denied law abiding citizens their inherent Rights!

But the grabbers will claim we need more laws. Should work as well as the drug laws. Like in “legalized marijuana” laws. See how we fixed the drug crisis? Make it legal and we won’t have the illegal problem.
There, fixed it for ya.

When one considers the interaction of citizens and guns, drugs, cars, appliances, air travel, oney and banking and lending, “consumer products”, communication, food, alcohol, education, energy, health and healthcare, insurance, agricultural products including (especially?) food, business, in light of what we find still printed in our Constitution, FedGov have NO authority to regulate or control any of it.

Charles, you are Right. It is not the object that commits the crime it’s the person using the object. To cite a couple of ‘for instances’ a car was used in Paris, a truck was used in NY, a knife was used in London. I have yet to hear any media refer to an ‘illegal car, illegal truck, or illegal knife.
I can load any firearm, to the max, and lay it on my table and it will rust or turn to dust before it, in of it’s self, harm someone. It only becomes dangerous when a person picks it up.
Nuff Said, Already!!!

Clark, Clark, Clark! Where does the Constitution address regulations and controls – of “any of it”? In your repeated attempts at coming across as someone who is an intellectual – please understand – you miss the mark!